Kalmah is a band from Finland. They are influenced by a high velocity brand of European Melodic Death Metal similar to that of metal bands like At The Gates, The Winter Massacre, and Dark Tranquillity. The quintet formed in the autumn of 1999 following the demise of its first incarnation, Ancestor. In less than a year after its birth, Kalmah was signed by Spikefarm Records, a division of the Finnish label Spinefarm. In the fall of 2000, the band recorded its debut album for the label at Tico-Tico studios, a favourite of fellow countrymen Sentenced and Impaled Nazarene. The result, Swamplord, is an aggressive, twin guitar solo-based album whose atmosphere is often heightened by ethereal keyboards. Century Media Records picked up Swamplord for North American distribution, and the record was released in 2001.
After that, Kalmah released "They will return" (2002), "Swampsong" (2003) and "The black waltz" (2006). On the "The black waltz" the music is quite different of the previous Kalmah records - the vocals are much deeper (a lot of growling vocals on this album) and the music is more influenced by Gothenburg style than the previous albums.

The band took their name from the Karelian language and could be translated as "to the grave" "to the end" or "to the death".